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en-usCopyright 2015 AOL, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/04/riccitiello-mirrors-edge-deserves-second-chance-ea-still-push/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/04/riccitiello-mirrors-edge-deserves-second-chance-ea-still-push/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/04/riccitiello-mirrors-edge-deserves-second-chance-ea-still-push/#commentsEA CEO John Riccitiello told IndustryGamers that the company has no intention of reducing its reliance on new IP. "Does this mean EA is backing away from investing in quality and innovation?" Riccitiello asked. "Absolutely not. It's religion for me; I believe quality and innovation is what works."

EA faces a difficult task now: finding room in EA's now-reduced slate for the new content Riccitiello promises and the sequels the company must produce. But it's a task Riccitiello seems to believe is worth undertaking. "I believe there are publishers out there that are milking franchises at their peril," he said. "I do think you can sort of stop innovating and do well while you coast for a couple of editions before a product starts to fall apart or a sector starts to fall apart."

The juggle involves sequels like Mirror's Edge 2, perhaps. "There are some things we learned about that [first] game," Riccitiello told Kotaku. "It was, I think, a massively innovative product. To be honest with you, I think it's a game that deserves to come back." The CEO said he's "had several very lively debates" with the dev team about the design of a future game. "And they are working on it."

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>business-strategyeaElectronic-Artsfranchisesjohn-riccitiellomirrors-edgemirrors-edge-2sequelsFri, 04 Dec 2009 09:47:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/05/ds-daily-the-next-great-nintendo-franchise/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/05/ds-daily-the-next-great-nintendo-franchise/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/05/ds-daily-the-next-great-nintendo-franchise/#comments
So the DS has been on the receiving end of some great games from Nintendo's most popular franchises. We had the excellent Phantom Hourglass, the million-billion-selling New Super Mario Bros. and some solid installments in the Animal Crossing and StarFox franchises. But what's next?

Which one of Nintendo's franchises do you want to see hit the DS next? A new Punch-Out!!! game? Or what about the next installment in the Pikmin franchise? What would you like to see from Nintendo?

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With the impending release of Smash Bros. Brawl, we've had franchises on the mind lately. This game is pretty much guaranteed to be the best cross-franchise game ever made, including tons of folk that normally wouldn't be anywhere near a first-party Nintendo game.

Then, reader Chris sent in an email showing us his latest creation. It's a mash-up of Kirby and Travis Touchdown (you know, from that game we can't seem to stop talking about). It's quite a nice statue, if we may say so.

Now that you have franchise mash-ups (we hope hope hopeNo More Heroes will become a franchise) on the mind, what other pairings would you like to see? Mario in a Star Fox game? Yoshi stuck in Silent Hill? What do you think?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>franchiseskirbymash-upnomoreheroestravis-touchdownubisoftTue, 26 Feb 2008 09:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/13/wii-warm-up-favorite-franchise/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/13/wii-warm-up-favorite-franchise/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/13/wii-warm-up-favorite-franchise/#commentsWe've been askingabout your favorite entries in big Nintendo franchises (and we probably will again!), but we thought we'd ask a more macro-scale question. What's your favorite franchise on Nintendo consoles? You've got your Mario, Zelda, and Metroid, obviously, but there's also Sonic, Resident Evil, Mega Man, Street Fighter, and years and years of other series throughout history. And don't forget about the comparatively newer series like Super Monkey Ball and Phantasy Star Online!

As for us, it's definitely Castlevania. We have been faithful to Konami's pseudo-horror series since the very start.

Recently there have been some rumblings that Bungie won't make another Halo game after Halo 3 which appear to be centered around a statement that Marty O'Donnell made in an interview with the BBC. In this interview, Marty says, "We all want Halo to be the great ending to an epic trilogy. We look at what Peter Jackson did with the Lord of the Rings films - which each film bettering the previous one and that is what we are aiming for." Does that mean we won't be seeing another Halo game in the future? To people who understand that making video games is a business, the rumors (which are already half-disproved) that Bungie would end the Halo franchise anytime soon are ridiculous.

The first two Halo games combined have sold 14.3 million units. That puts the Halo franchise within the top 30 best-selling game franchises of all time. Without Halo, Microsoft might as well not have bothered with the Xbox; Halo and Halo 2 sold more units than the next six best selling games on the Xbox combined (if you're wondering, these games are Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Fable, GTA: Double Pack, Project Gotham Racing, and Need for Speed: Underground 2). With a Halo movie on the way, and the facts that Halo 2 sold more units than the first and is still the #1 game played on Xbox Live under Bungie's belt, it wouldn't be wrong to say that the Halo franchise is increasing in popularity.

The bottom line is that Bungie and Microsoft would have to be stupid to end their most lucrative franchise ever after #3. We don't claim to have any insider information, we don't dispute Marty's statement and we don't deny the possibility that Bungie will create new franchises, but based on pure business logic we'd expect to see at least another two games based on the Halo universe. From a business perspective, for Bungie to dump the Halo franchise after 3 would be sheer stupidity.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>BungieBusinessFableFranchisesGame salesGameSalesGTAHaloHalo 2Halo 3Halo franchiseHalo2Halo3HaloFranchiseLord of the RingsLordOfTheRingsMarty O\\\'DonnellMartyO\\\'donnellNeed for Speed UndergroundNeedForSpeedUndergroundNFSPGRProject Gotham RacingProjectGothamRacingXboxXbox LiveXbox-360XboxLiveFri, 28 Jul 2006 07:45:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/22/miyamoto-sony-ms-games-same-old-experiences-with-new-graphics/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/22/miyamoto-sony-ms-games-same-old-experiences-with-new-graphics/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/22/miyamoto-sony-ms-games-same-old-experiences-with-new-graphics/#commentsFiled under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360From the same article where Shigeru Miyamoto called Sony's motion-sensing PS3 controller flattering to Nintendo, the legendary game designer criticised both Sony and Microsoft's E3 showing as "the next generation of the same old videogames - it's the same old experiences with new graphics." The quote is, one could guess, a lead-in to lauding Nintendo's new controller: "... and while there are people who enjoy that, we're really talking about the next leap in interactive entertainment, and really bringing interactive entertainment not just to videogame fans but to everyone."

As we have seen with DS games, many hit titles do not use the touch screen, opting instead for a more classic control scheme. Miyamoto's concession ("while there are people who enjoy" last-gen games with next-gen graphical tweaks) might be indicative of many Wii titles not using the system's unique controls to their fullest extent. We laud innovation, but it should be said that forcing developers to add motion-sensing to every title could harm titles that would benefit from more classic controls.

Another point one should make is that all game companies -- Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and third-party developers -- have franchises that see very little update with each iteration. Be it Mario Party or Madden, GTA or Quake, some titles see very little change each generation. And all companies are at fault for that.

Disney's upcoming MMO Pirates of the Caribbean Onlineis aimed at the teen and casual market, enticing fans of the films to try a new genre. As such, it's a very stylised representation of a pirate world, with fast-paced action that's easy to jump into for a few minutes. The story runs parallel to the films, with sub-plots revolving around the main characters that fans know and love.

The aim of the game is to sculpt a career as a pirate, building up notoriety that takes into account skills like sword fighting, captaining ships and playing cards. With a group of players, you can crew a ship, with every player taking a particular role -- from firing cannons to piloting the ship. Disney isn't aiming for historical accuracy, so moving a ship is much like driving a car -- it even has a reverse gear.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>buena vistaBuenaVistacasualdisneyE3film tie-insFilmTie-insfranchisesmmorpgmovie tie-insMovieTie-insnewbiePCpiratespiraticalFri, 12 May 2006 19:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/31/stargate-worlds-announced/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/31/stargate-worlds-announced/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/31/stargate-worlds-announced/#commentsFiled under: PC, Online, RPGsAlthough this partnership between Cheyenne
Mountain Entertainment and MGM Interactive started in September 2005, it's only been formally announced today. The two
are teaming up to bring Stargate Worlds, a massively multiplayer title set in the Stargate SG-1 universe, to
life.

The game is apparently "an MMO that provides players with a form of exploration, adventure
and ranged combat set in worlds of historical human time periods, alien environments, and outer space
locations". It sounds interesting on paper, but bringing a popular franchise to life as an MMO
isn't an easy task.